Politics vs. military families: Column

Feb. 26, 2013
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Christopher and Lisa Phelps and their sons, from left, Tristen, Preston, Taigan and Dalton. Lisa has learned that the military was ready to deactivate her reservist husband because of budget pressures. This would mean leaving Germany mid-school-semester for the kids and no time to line up a civilian job. / Family photo

by Kathy Roth-Douquet, USA TODAY

by Kathy Roth-Douquet, USA TODAY

Military families are used to their lives being upended by intentional acts of the enemy - but by Congress? The upcoming deadline for automatic spending cuts has already resulted in layoffs, stalled moves, forced moves and other whipsaws in military families driven not by operational needs but by political posturing.

Frankly, after a dozen years of doing our jobs to protect America, it's discouraging to watch members of Congress choose to weaken our country by refusing to find a solution.

Let me be clear: I am not opposed to defense cuts driven by a re-imagining of national security strategy and competing domestic priorities. I am opposed to gratuitous pain and the erosion of readiness for an undiminished mission.

Friday marks the beginning of across-the-board government cuts, but in order for those cuts to go into effect, government agencies and contractors have already canceled contracts, deployments and orders.

Disrupted lives

What does this mean to the lives of military personnel and their families?

Jenelle Hatzung's Navy husband was scheduled to deploy this month on the aircraft carrier USS Truman. Over pasta and red wine, they went over their timeline - save deployment salary, begin the paperwork, and by the time Jenelle's husband returned they would realize their dream of adopting a baby. But they soon found out that the mission was scrapped because of the threat of automatic cuts. Not knowing what the future holds, they're hesitant to begin the adoption process.

Susan Reynolds, an Air Force wife, sees the toll on her husband's squadron. Susan has seen her husband's squadron's operating budget cut by 40%. One cutback will impact her directly: The child care center on post has halted deployment child care for Air Force families. The center has been her lifeline during the months-long pressures of single parenthood.

Lisa Phelps has been living the life of an active-duty military wife with her reservist husband. She has continued working as a nurse through four deployments and overseas assignments, resettling her four boys in Germany only to learn that the military was ready to deactivate her husband due to budget pressures, which would mean leaving Germany mid-school-semester for the kids and with no time to line up a civilian job.

Undermines morale

As military spouses, these actions damage our morale. My colleague Joyce Raezer of the National Military Family Association agrees: "Military families understand the need to reduce the federal debt, but expect Congress to make reasoned choices, not blind cuts."

The greater question is how will the automatic spending cuts impact our military mission? As Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wrote to Congress last week, the furloughs that will result from automatic spending cuts "will do real harm to our national security." We will lose 20% of our civilian workforce without reducing the missions, so that the requirements are "beyond what can reasonably be achieved" by the personnel that remain.

Military families understand the need to make sacrifices, but my friends' stories are not just about disruptions to their families. It's also about the undermining of our national security.

There is a very short time for our Congress to act, but military families hope they do and limit the damage to what has been done.

Kathy Roth-Douquet is CEO of Blue Star Families, a non-partisan, non-profit military support group.

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